Whenever we drive up the Duffey Lake road Lee often makes me stop so he can
pine to ski Stonecrop Glacier. We haven’t yet skied this since its a pretty
big tour and the approach is condition dependent. We skinned up Matier Glacier
in the morning under cloudy skies. This was our biggest reprieve and still
we heard serac falls on the glacier beside us and warmed snow falling from
the rocks pm Joffre’s east ridge. While this route is clear of glacial ice
its still only advisable in really good conditions. Here is a story of a trip
in the area in the summer.
We leave at the crack of 9:20 and made the top of the first pitch by 12:15.
Just in time to see Lillooet ski Matier! We met the Lil’ Nuggets across the
glacier and as usual they looked Guaranteed Rugged. We headed up to Spetch
to take advantage of this incredible winter snow and they carried on to Stonecrop.
After this they were going to ski back to Cerise creek via Joffre Shoulder
and Chief Pascal! I wonder what time they made it out…
We ended up choking on Spetch and Stonecrop pow. Thanks to Lillooet for leaving
us space!
Early morning high clouds
Stonecrop Glacier
Pano of Matier Glacier and Stonecrop Glacier
Skinning up Matier Glacier
Lunch at the first pitch
Lillooet skiing down Matier Peak!
Still enjoying lunch and figure Spetch would be a good options since we got
up faster then expected!
Little Nuggets under Spetch
Lillooet boiling up some sun screen to drink!
Heading to Spetch
Matier massacre
Skiing down Spetch
Our tracks down Spetch
Stonecrop is Guaranteed Rugged
Skinning up you can see the Joffre’s three lakes below! Third Lake is at ~1550m
Lee’s getting ready to ski some pow! He looks unimpressed. We must be in a
rut — ho hum
Sharon
Tyler
Lee
Heading back across the 3rd lake.
Looking back at our tracks!
Tyler’s Video;
Spetch and slalok from Tyler Wilkes on Vimeo.
The next day we came back to ski Taylor.
Our skin track – sluffing took some of it out later in the day!
Optional ski down Matier Glacier
Stonecrop from Taylor
